Mar 25, 2011

The Writer's Life: What has Jell-O got to do with writing? Or coat hangers? Hilma Wolitzer, a remarkably fine writer of novels and writing advice, had this to say in her thoughtful and oh-so-useful book, “The Company of Writers.”

“I used to compare writing stories with cleaning out my closets. In both instances I was trying to make order out of chaos – in one, by discovering and organizing what was in the back of my mind, and in the other, by discovering and organizing what was on the backs of my shelves. Editing a manuscript to trim its excesses was not unlike plucking out those stray wire hangers and single socks. I confess that now I’m a lot less preoccupied by household chores [or analogies]. I haven’t made Jell-O in decades, not since a spectacular pink-and-green arrangement I was unmolding for dinner guests slithered down the kitchen drain. Like Dorothy Parker, I decided not to eat anything more nervous than I am. But Jell-O appears in every one of my books, as an homage to my domestic past. And because it’s colorful, shimmery, and layered with surprises, it makes a perfect all-purpose metaphor. Whatever you do in your “real” life may also be distilled into fictional material. Despite Hardy’s edict about the “uncommon” in fiction, I now believe that all experience is extraordinary in some ways. It’s just a matter of recognizing its literary potential.”